Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-07-02
THE OPIUM HABIT.
A Few Instances Of the Fatal Power of
 Morphia and Chlorai.

A Few Instances of the Fatal Power of
 Morphia and Choral.
 But few outside of the medical pro- fessi0n have any conception of the vast amount of morphia and chloral con stunned by persons who have become ad- dicted to their use.
 The universal testimony of these un- fortunate men and women is. that the habit, once formed, it is next to impos- sible to escape from its thralldOm. The effect of these drugs is so collaborating that the tired. overworked mother, in the new life coursing through her veins, imagines herself ready for any conflict; while the poor besOtted youth, who has lost all traces of the noble manhood upon which he was just entering, is in toxicated with the splendors of the kingdom, which his intoxicated brain asserts to be his own.
 One of the saddest cases of opium eating that has ever come under my observation, was that of a young gentleman. Lee Adams by name, a descendant of the renowned family, which twice occupied the highest seat in the gift of the American people. He brought with him. 10 our college town, rare qualities, both as an orator and author. can give you no impression of the eloquent addresses to which we were treated. Suffice il to say that his audiences went away charmed with his grandeur. No terms were too ex- travag;nt to express the admiration of his hearers. The college faculty en- gagged him for series of lectures, and while in the very zenith of his popular ity, a clap, as from a clear sky, caused the people to pause suddenly and shed tears over their shattered idol.
 It was on q beautiful. still Sabbath morning, while the villagers were as sembling for morning worship, that officers of justice from the city arrived, with papers for the arrest of one Zee Adams, on the very grave chargs3vi robbery; and. much to the amazement of the populace, the missing diamonds were discovered in lis trunk It all came out thcn-thc fact that he was an inveterate morphia eater. and the peo- pie held the secret of his moodiness, which the physicians had kept quiet up to this hour. He acknowledged his guilt, declaring that the theft. was com mtted while under the influence of the powerful narcotic. He delivered the jewels to the officer, but assked that he might be permitted to enter the inc briate asylum, instead of being carried to prison. Through the influence ot prominent men, his requested wa, ] granted, and though several years havt 1 ? p,-sed away since that morning. wt have never heard any thing concerning him. He said he could take seventee, grains of morphia at single dose, an( this, considering that quarter of ; grain is the amount usually prescribed was sixty-eight times as much as person not addicted to its use coulC bear.
 l have in mind young physician who, during his last year at the medica l college, contracted the habit of usin: chloral. He was highly gifted. and t. his natural fine abilities were added al the graces of an accomplished education During the three years that he remaine' in his chosen profession, through hi kindness of heart and acknowledge skill, he won hosts of friends. Still tn fatal thirst was consuming him b inches, and time after time his brothe lphysicians labored for hours to snatc him from the very jaws of death. Blu there came time when even thei power was useless, and before he ha reached the close of his twenty-fourt
 year, the clods of the valley had covere the formwel had all learned to lov, forever from our view.
 l might add many other instances ( the fatal power of these drugs, but m
 note of warning has been sounded, an
 that is all for which lifted my pen.
 .d Doctors Wife, 6s JFomam'S Magazin,